For the sake of conversation, let us imagine that the list I provided in the previous blog post (Part 2), was “the” criterion we were going to use to define what a disciple is. I would first want to point out that the elements listed there are more qualities they have rather than activities they do. These qualities would naturally bear fruit that we would all see as Christian activity. So let us move forward asking the Holy Spirit to lead us in a discernment process.

A Process to Pray Through

For the sake of testing this process out, let’s take the first element from my list of Characteristics of a Disciple in the previous blog. 1. They must have Authentic Faith in Jesus Christ. If we were to begin to instill this characteristic in our desired disciples, what would it require?

What would we need?

1. A living human being – God creates those (with human help ;o)
2. The ability to reason the existence of God and their need for Him.
3. A working knowledge of God’s saving plan and our need for salvation.

Up to this point we have all we need to work with to instill the first required characteristics. So we pray and ponder how to instill authentic faith in God. To do this, we must go through the work of defining what is authentic faith.

(You might ask) Why?

Because today there is great confusion about faith. Many cradle Catholics see faith as knowledge or a social identity. They can “say” they believe in God but never live their lives as if they trust Him. This is a rampant problem in the life of the Church today.

For the sake of this exercise, let us define authentic faith in God as having a knowledge of Him that enables one to entrust their lives completely to God’s providence.

“What would that look like?”

They would aspire to live their lives based on the Word of God (and the teachings of His Church) which, if done properly, would cause them to radically change their lives from living according to worldly standards and norms to God’s will and standards.

“How could we measure that?”

St. Peter showed us that in Acts, Chapter 2. He gave them the criteria (Proper Disposition CCC 1131) required for one to come to Faith in Jesus Christ and therefore receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

1. Repent – To cease living their lives according to their own rules (as if they were God) and humble themselves to the truth that they are called to live according to God’s rules.
2. Be Baptized – To give up one’s life completely to God. Baptism is a decision to cease living for yourself and your wants and begin to live according to God’s will and completely for His Kingdom.

Now spend some time in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit and your catechists of  all ages, what this would look like at each age level. Ask the Spirit to reveal to you how our religious education programs could be transformed to include measurement systems.

The days of just throwing out information without measuring whether faith has been chosen must end. We must begin to Model, Mimic, and Measure what we are trying to pass on to others. Without these in place, we are only teaching them to “play Church.”